What a busy year partners and wildlife have had, thanks partly to all the movement restrictions, not just in the Dove Catchment but all over the World. There have been recorded sightings of fallow deer grazing lawns in front of a housing estate in Harold Hill in London, a herd of goats taking over a deserted city centre in Llandudno, wild boar roaming streets in Spain and crystal-clear water (& fish) returning to the canals in Venice - a few positives to take from giving nature space.

March 2020 saw the ‘Whole of the Dove Day’ event take place (1 week before national lockdown) the event was a huge success and we had the opportunity to hear about all the good work that partners have been doing and most importantly gather peoples thoughts on where the Dove CP should go next. You can view some of the presentations HERE

I hope you enjoy catching up on partners work on the Dove and its tributaries and thank you to everyone who sent in an article, please keep them coming! Send just 80 words and a picture to: tina@trentriverstrust.org and I'll store them up for next time.

South West Peak staff have been mapping and removing Himalayan balsam from sites in the Dove catchment as part of our Upstream Thinking project, which is funded by a Water Environment Grant. Staff walked over 18 km during multiple work days, pulled out over 11,000 plants and cut twice as many!

Even one balsam plant can produce 800 seeds so the aim is to find and remove every plant before it seeds. Searching for the plants meant continually reconsidering our risk assessments as we came across new challenges. At one site it was impossible to walk in the stream due to thick silt, which was unfortunate as that meant spending 2 hours walking through nettles, thistles and cleavers. Then there are fences, steep banks and the occasional rubbish heap to contend with.

The best methods of removal are pulling or cutting but that’s not quite enough to eradicate this balsam. You have to make sure you pull up the roots or at least cut it below the lowest node. Cut and pulled Himalayan balsam can be left spread out on the ground, and preferably crushed. It should only be placed in a heap if it can be covered. In open compost heaps the plants will be damp enough to sprout roots and regrow.

As part of the South West Peak Crayfish in Crisis project, led by Staffordshire Wildlife trust and with funding from the Environment Agency and NLHF, endangered white-clawed crayfish were translocated from their home in Cannock Chase to two new ARK sites in the South West Peak at the end of September. A small number of fortunate volunteers and the three SWPLP apprentices got to go along and lend a hand. 225 native crayfish were collected from a stream by carefully picking up bricks and woody debris using hand searching and hand nets. The crayfish were health checked and measured and then transported to their new home in the South West Peak where they were released. Additional crayfish were also added to boost the new populations at ARK sites where individuals were translocated in 2018 and 2019. The above photo shows the South West Peak Apprentices hard at work collecting white-clawed crayfish for translocation.

It is hoped that these crayfish will start new breeding populations that will eventually move downstream into new parts of the river.

To learn more about the Crayfish in Crisis project head over to the project page HERE

Hedge restoration is in the works in the South West Peak at a proposed site (see photo on the right) that will help slow the flow of water into the Churnet. The proposed hedge restoration site currently has an existing hedge in place, but this needs almost total replanting. The proposed hedge is approximately 200m in length and will restore a historic hedgeline to slow overland flow into the Dove headwaters.

For updates on these works follow the South West Peak Facebook and Twitter feeds and you can also check up on us via our News page.

Trent Rivers Trust are working with landowners in the catchment of Picknall Brook, Uttoxeter looking at ways to improve, protect and enhance the biodiversity value of the Brook in and around Bramshall Park.

There are many options to choose from:

But the small pot of funding we have will only allow us to complete a few and at this early stage we are unsure as to which option will best fit. Keep watching this space for updates. 

Trent Rivers Trust are working with landowners along the River Dove between Uttoxeter and its confluence with the Trent to improve the tree cover along the banks of the river. Currently there is very little tree cover which is making the river particularly vulnerable to warming of waters through little natural resilience form tree shading. As a recovering Salmonid river this is particularly crucial to long term viability of fish species that are sensitive to temperature increases such as Salmon and Trout.

TRT are working with the landowners to identify a mutual agreement for the planting proposals and help with applying for grant funding.

Trent Rivers Trust are working with Staffordshire County Council and Landowners looking at the feasibility of combining traditional hard engineering works in the village with Natural Flood Management measures in the upstream catchment which will afford protection to residential and commercial properties.

Any suggestions of sites then please email tina@trentriverstrust.org. 

Funding from the EA is being used to model and design a wetland creation project on the River Dove at Middle Mayfield. Work is planned to begin in 2021 through Severn-Trent’s Boost for Biodiversity grant to create new channels to rewet areas, create a scrape and ponds, as well as scalloping an existing ditch to re-naturalise its course. Future work will involve restoring 5 fields to species-rich floodplain meadows.

The annual Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme (STEPS) has been relaunched until 31 January 2022 – providing a greater window of support to farmers.  This extended window is now offering match funding of up to £10,000 for farm improvements that address water quality issues.

This major extension to the STEPS application window will give farmers the flexibility to choose a time to suit them to apply and carry out the funded work.

The uncertainty brought by Brexit, and the pressures presented by Covid-19. Therefore, for one year only, Severn Trent have decided to open STEPS applications up for longer. Successful applicants will then have a further 12 months to complete their work after funding is confirmed.

This match funding is available to farmers in priority catchments to address issues such as nitrates, pesticides and cryptosporidium reaching watercourses. A range of items are available from cover crops and pesticide washdown bays, to livestock fencing and covered handling areas.

For further details and to find out if you are in a priority catchment visit: www.stwater.co.uk/steps

Baffles have been fitted to gauging weir on Henmore Brook, Ashbourne to provide easement for fish passage. This is one of the mitigation measures identified for the water body for the Water Framework Directive. This work was done by EA Field Team to a design from EA national fisheries team. You can see the laminar flow over the weir and the difference the baffles make creating flow variation to attract fish, giving them a flow to kick up and resting areas between the baffles.